Patriots and Tyrants
by AlSmash
Summary: The year is After Colony 204, and a new threat has arisen to threaten the Earthsphere Unified Nations. The Gundam Pilots now find themselves facing an implacable specter of the past. And is there any merit to their grievances?
1. Prologue

_God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. ... What country before ever existed a century and half without a rebellion? And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure. - **Thomas Jefferson**_

**Prologue**

_ESUN__ Security Council, Brussels, March 3rd After Colony 198  
_

"Madame Director Une, I demand an explanation for the incident at Mogadishu," a Representative called out to the woman sitting at a table before a semicircle of 13 representatives, representing the major blocs of power in the ESUN.

Lady Une, in her typical attire of blue business suit, kept her composure calm as she began speaking.

"Representative, we were tipped off by sources that the Mogadishu Liberation Coalition had a facility where they were producing nerve agents for use in terrorist attacks upon civilian targets inside Somalia, and nearby Djibouti. The intelligence we had was succinct and thorough…."

"Obviously not thorough enough," another Representative interjected.

"…We had the intelligence backed up by surveillance," Une continued, unperturbed, "I ordered that we send four strike teams to take the facility."

"Isn't that overkill, Director?"

"No, not in this situation," Une said, "The MLC has proven itself capable of using nerve agents without second thought, and I wanted this facility shut down."

"Instead, it was an ambush."

"That is still unknown, sir," Une said, taking off her glasses and rubbing her eyes, "From all the testimony given by the debriefing, it seems that the entire facility was fortified on the inside, and served as the main base for the MLC."

"And why did your surveillance not pick up on this," the representative yelled, standing up, "Surely you would have noticed a large amount of traffic moving in and out of the facility."

"No, we didn't," Une said, testily, "If you had read the debriefing representative, you would have noted that we discovered later that this facility had an underground network that has at least five different exit points outside of the surveillance area."

"Then your surveillance team was incompetent," another representative dismissed.

Une bristled, the leader of that surveillance team, was Wufei, and he was never incompetent.

"No, representative, it was this committee that was incompetent," she finally said after a long pause.

"Excuse me," the chairman said, perking up, "would you repeat that, Director?"

"Chairman, I had warned against storming this compound repeatedly to you and this committee in private meetings, instead you ordered me to mount the attack before we had gathered enough intelligence…."

"That is enough, Director," the chairman stated, "I understand your frustration with the loss of twenty three of your personnel, but we need to look at the exorbitant loss of life with the destruction of the facility, specifically over three thousand civilians."

"And if you had read the briefing, we theorize…."

"Director Une, we don't need your theories, we don't need your hypothesis, we are here for the cold hard facts."

_And a scapegoat, _Une thought, _Wufei I'm glad you are not here_.

She thought darkly, Sally Po's death had hit Wufei the hardest; she had always had a suspicion that Sally and Wufei had more than a working partnership, but had a deeper relationship.

From what she had gotten from Heero, Wufei had been fast enough in injecting himself with the antigen, but Sally…Sally had taken too long, and Wufei reached her only in time to hear her last words.

Une balled her fists underneath the table, remembering how Wufei had simply disappeared, only his resignation being the evidence that he had even been back in Brussels.

"Madame Director, this council will adjourn for a small recess so my colleagues and I can talk…"

"I'm sorry Chairman, but I want to say one more thing before we go to recess," Une said.

"Go on," the chairman said.

"For two years, I have watched as the Preventers have been morphed from an organization designed to stop wars from breaking out, to a police force of the Earthsphere Unified Nations, sent to quell all disputes that are approved by this council. I've been long outspoken in the use of the Preventers as a tool to prevent wars, the idea of keeping it as a small operational and highly mobile force that can deploy anywhere in the Earthsphere in a matter of hours. Today, the Preventers are now twentyfold larger, we have numerous teams all over the Earthsphere either conducting surveillance, or actively curtailing hotspots."

"Mogadishu is the example in which the size of the Preventers cannot possibly operate anymore as this committee has decreed; we lost lives because of the bureaucracy that the Preventers now have to run through."

"Is that all Director?"

"Yes," Une said, knowing these would very well be the last words she spoke from this committee.

--

A short while later, Une was walking out of the gigantic assembly building that served as the epicenter of the ESUN.

As she walked down the steps, she suddenly spied a pair of men out of the corner of her eyes, walking out from behind a colonnade and suddenly moving towards her.

She stopped, and turned to face them.

"Lady Une," one of them asked, though it was more in a statement.

"Yes," Une said.

"Our boss would like to have a talk with you, about a business proposal."

Une gave frowned, "I'm sorry, but I'm not really interested."

"Please, our boss wants to talk to you about Master Treize," one of them said quietly.

This immediately grabbed Lady Une's attention. Because one, no one referred to Treize Khushrenada as Master Treize other than former Treize Faction members, and two, they were extremely hard to find nowadays, moving on in life, and they rarely referred to him as Master Treize anyways. That could mean only one thing, they were radicals.

All of a sudden, the phone rang on the leftmost man, and he immediately flipped it open.

"Yes?"

He then handed it to Une, "It's for you."

Une took the phone, "Who is this?"

An electronically synthesized voice replied back, "Who I am is really irrelevant now, Colonel. What I am, is a businessman, someone who recognizes an asset when he sees it. All I want to do, is talk with you, Colonel Une, I guarantee no harm will come to you, on the grave of Master Treize I swear this."

Une considered this proposal, the fact that whoever was on the other line was most likely former Treize Faction, as was the people she was standing with, looking at their haircuts and bearing, she realized that that belief was most likely, because they still maintained a military bearing to them.

She decided to go along with this, she no longer was Director anymore, she had been fired by the committee earlier, and other than retiring to the estate Treize had left for her, and taking care of Mariemaia, there wasn't anything more that was required of her.

"Alright," she said, "I'll talk."

"Good."

--

A short while later, after being led into a large building, which she noted, was Da Vinci Consortium's headquarters in Brussels, a contractor that dallied in a small amount of specialized projects in the Earthsphere and on Mars, ranging from telecommunications to construction, it was also one of the suppliers of Preventer equipment.

After being lead through the building and into an elevator, she was finally lead into a large office, where she could see the legs of a man sitting at a chair, but no desk, but she could not see his face, the shading of the room cloaked the man, unable to see his face.

"I apologize for not getting up and shaking your hand Colonel, but one does best by masking his identity in this political climate," the man said in a slightly accented tone, he then motioned towards the chair a short ways across from him, "please, be seated."

Une took a seat across from the man.

"I'll be up front with you," the man said, "Your firing is of no real surprise to us, in fact, we'd have actually expected it a bit sooner."

"Us?"

"Think of us as the final will of His Excellency," the man said, "you're familiar with a group called Werwolf?"

"Not really," Une said.

"Understandable," the man said, "Werwolf was a last gasp of the Nazi's in World War II, a partisan group intended to fight occupation of the Allies, a group of fanatics that proved to be a dismal failure."

"Are you saying that you yourselves are holdouts?"

"No. But His Excellency was cognizant of history, and how when there is no competition to a government, a government can become corrupt and despotic, and abuse the power it was given by the people."

"But His Excellency believed that Earth and Space could peaceably resolve its differences."

"He did, but he was also a realist, and he left a margin of error for the possibility of the uniting of Earth and Space could create a government that could be blind to the needs and wants of the people. That's why we want you, you know exactly what our government is becoming, and what's coming."

Une laughed, "I'm sorry, but I know his Excellency, and he would never have done any of this. Form a special unit to simply waste their lives doing his wishes."

"I'm sorry that you believe this," the man said, "I had hoped we could work more closely in the future. I wish you good day, Colonel."

"Wait," Une said, "What makes you think I won't report this?"

"Because there will never be any evidence of my presence here," the man said, "and I believe you believe the same thing as us."

He then got up, "Please show the Colonel out, this meeting is over."

A man entered the room and settled himself in beside Lady Une, saying nothing simply awaiting for her to move.

A short time later, Lady Une was being led into the car.

"Oh, by the way, Colonel, our boss wanted to give you his business card."

"I'm not interested."

"Please, he insists," he said, handing her an envelope, he then shut the door and patted the top, signaling the driver to drive.

Une opened up the envelope and poured on the contents.

What came out, was a simple playing card, a Joker.

Immediately her eyes widened, as she realized exactly what it was she was talking about with the mysterious man.

It was also the emblem of the 13th Special Operations Bridge, an OZ unit that had gone rogue right before the Xmas Eve Battle.


	2. Gathering Storm

A/N: I apologize, after a loooooong, I'll repeat, loooong month of deliberations on whether I actually wanted to do a Dale Brown like timeline of news excerpts or not, computer fryings, adjustment to new laptop, and losses of internet, I have finally churned out some chapters for you, again I apologize for the long delay, but some things are completely out of my control, and hopefully you will forgive me. Maybe if I get some drive, and actually come back to review my chapters, I'll add to this and actually make it a newspaper like series of articles, again I'm sorry.

Chapter 1: Gathering Storm

March 3rd AC198: Lady Une "retires"

March 15 AC198: ESUN Security Council appointes Cassandra DeVries as new Director of the Preventers

May 29th AC 198: DeVries introduces a new direction for the Preventers. This direction changes the intention of the Preventers as a proactive and visible force for the ESUN.

August 26th AC 200: Operation Pitfall. Preventers move on a Chechen outpost and are masscred by the rebels using a patched together and armed construction mobile suit.

September 13, AC 200: In a sweeping resolution approved by the ESUN General Assembly, the Preventers are given powers to produce mobile suits and train pilots. Provisions are also made for an ESUN army.

September 26th AC 200: Relena Peacecraft sresigns in protest to the rearmament of the Preventers , stating that the government was opening a Pandora's Box by reintroducing mobile suits and weapons into an already unstable political climate that should have none of it.

June 16th AC 202: Operation Variable, Preventers launch attacks on seven different anti-government groups wiping them out.

June 17th, AC 202: Video leak of Preventers slaughtering anti-government forces in Montana after they surrender, surfaces. Immediately denounciations from many civil rights groups flood the ESUN, but are ignored.

June 19th, AC 202: Mass protests begin in numerous major cities and in colonies after the leaked video.

July 20th AC 202: After a month long series of protests, the ESUN Security Council, with the backing of the General Assembly, announces the implementation of martial law and curfews.

August 1st AC 202: Terrorist bombing in Brussels, Washington, and on Colony X13184 in the L3 Sector. one thousand one hundred and eighty three dead, eight thousand six hundred and fourty four injured.

August 2nd, 202: ESUN General Assembly passes the Prevention Act, suspending habaeus corpus, implementing indefinite imprisonment for any suspected terrorist, and approves executions for convicted terrorists.

September 11th, AC 202: ESUN General Assembly unanimously passes the ESUN Armed Forces Act forming the ESUN Army, and adds additional forces and funds to the Preventers.

December 3rd, AC 203: Preventers begin mass arrests throught the Earthsphere for "subversive and terrorist" elements that seek to harm the "legitimate authority of the government", arrested include political reformists, commentators, and other seditious persons.


	3. Opening Salvo

January 4, After Colony 204

January 4, After Colony 204

Somewhere in L4

"Gentlemen and ladies, I believe the time in which Master Treize feared we would have to become involved in the Earthsphere has come, unfortunately."

"Really?! Seriously Colonel, I think the time should have come almost three years ago, when we could have nipped the problem at the bud, instead of let the ESUN run amok with its discovered power."

"I believe that it wouldn't have been wise, we would have been simply viewed as another terrorist entity," the man said coolly back, "Master Treize told us that if the World Nation should ever begin to abuse its power and subjugate the people, only then, when the people's cry for justice becomes loud, should we make a move."

"It's a shame that His Excellency left us with only one mobile suit to be the watchdogs that he envisioned us to be."

"One mobile suit should be adequate for now," the man said back.

"Colonel, it does get a little unnerving for you to be hooked up to that system so much."

The man said nothing back as he kept to the shadows, all of the men in the room kept to the shadows, in the very case that someone had slipped in a camera to spy on this secret meeting.

"We'll make do with phase one," the Colonel finally said, "How many people have answered the call?"

"That's the bad part," a female voice spoke up, joining the discussion, "So far we've only received word from about fifty-five percent of the personnel, and they are spread all over the place, I doubt that they would be in position to report within another week, we only have two safehouses fully secured and in working condition, we can have another three on Earth and one in each of the Lagrange Points operational in another three weeks."

"Surely Colonel, we should wait, we cannot operate too long with the amount of personnel and safehouses we have."

"I'm afraid we must," the man said back, decision made, "the longer we wait, the longer the ESUN might catch on to us, the second we activated our timeframe started to count down, we need to move on phase one almost immediately."

"And what about Colonel Une?"

The Colonel merely said nothing, "Major, you have our orders, have his Excellency's last will and testament prepared for sortie, immediately."

"And the target sir?"

"I feel like it would be adequate to make a splash as loud and clear to the bureaucrats as it is to the people, we're going to hit Brussels."

"Audacious, yet doable," the woman said, in a thoughtful tone, "You're just hitting the armory there, correct?"

"Yes, minimal casualties, maximum destruction."

"Colonel, don't be serious, doing something like that could backfire badly?"

"Captain, I've listened to your counsel, and you've been a very great asset to this unit, but the time for discussion is over, we must move now, and move boldly, if we are to honor his Excellency's final orders."

"Yes sir."

"Very well," the man said.

--

10:23pm

January 5th, AC 204

Khushrenada Estate

Luxembourg, Luxembourg

Lady Une quietly walked down one of the dark hallways that were part of the large Khushrenada Estate.

She had just finished seeing Mariemaia to bed, one of the joys that she could have now that she was the head of estate that Treize had left behind to her.

She had to keep herself from being amused, the fact that Mariemaia had grown into a very active teenager had become quite a hassle in her life, the programming and the training that had made her into a child dictator, Une mentally cursed Dekim Barton for that, had been worn down and while Mariemaia had all the refinery of a young woman who could take an old Romefeller Ball, thankfully which there were none, by storm. But, Mariemaia also had a stubborn and rebellious streak in her, and Une found herself at times trying hard to keep up with her.

But that all paled at the fact that Mariemaia had, underneath all of that, the makings of a leader and a woman who could change a lot of things in the world, with her father's sense of right and wrong, and his strong sense of chivalry.

But that all was the future, Une thought, and then her mind focused on the problem that that future was turning towards.

The Preventers were becoming almost like the old Waffen SS used by the Nazi's in World War II she thought gloomily, cracking down on anybody that talked out about the government, as well as using their elite mobile suit troops to crack down further on anyone who thought about rebellion. The world was devolving faster than she thought possible, and while she was glad she wasn't part of it, she wondered if she could have prevented it.

But thankfully, Heero and Trowa, had both resigned their commissions and left the Preventers as well, Heero to become a full-time bodyguard to Relena, Une's lips quirked upwards oh-so-slightly, at least that was the story that the media was getting, but Heero was actually getting very close to the former Foreign Minister and heiress to the Peacecraft name.

Trowa, well, he really gave no reason, and had returned to the circus, which was actually now on Mars, on a three month long stint for the terraforming crews there, funded by the Winner Corporation.

Quatre, Une thought with a smirk, Quatre was actually the busiest of all the Gundam Pilots, working the Winner Corporation to the point where it was considered one of the most prestigious places to work for or affiliated with, and Quatre's vice president, was known for her taskmaster approach to everything, in fact, there were rumors of a possible relationship between Quatre and Dorothy Catalonia, but Une knew it was simply a working relationship with the two, Quatre was doubtful to ever settle down in his life for anything.

And Duo, well, Duo was one of those affiliates of the Winner Corporation, running his scavenging yard and repair shop from L2, and now actually branching out through all the Lagrange Points, of course his business partner, Hilde, made sure to keep Duo from doing anything incredibly ill-advised.

That aside, other than the government cracking down on Earth and in space, things were fine and well with the Gundam pilots, she thought as she opened the door to the library.

She immediately stopped as she saw a lone figure standing in front of a bookshelf, the upper part of his body shrouded by the shadows

"Please, don't alert security," the figure said, and immediately Une recognized the voice, "I'm only here to talk."

"And I already told you, six years ago, that I was not interested," Une growled menacingly, walking into the library and shutting the door.

"Things change over time," the figure casually said, taking a book off the bookshelf and walking over to a lamp and turning it on, finally bringing light upon his figure.

Une fought hard to keep the surprise off her face as her eyes recognized what the man was wearing.

It was an OZ pilot suit, but instead of the standard purple, gold, and black, it was a red and black, crooked under his arm was an all black helmet with what appeared to be no visor through which to see.

Her eyes came to meet a pair of cerulean blue eyes, and short-cropped brown hair, but it was the eyes that held her attention the most, they were the eyes of an intelligent and experienced veteran of war.

The fact that he only appeared to be in his mid-to-late twenties provided a stark contrast to the eyes. Most likely he would be a very handsome bachelor if he didn't have that military bearing and razor-honed edge to him.

"My mind doesn't though," Une said, strongly now.

"A pity," the man said, his eyes darted down from the book back up to her in an amused query, "I can tell you read this book quite often, Colonel, I wonder, what would a woman who has given up the profession of leading and warmaking do reading a book on warfare, specifically a book upon mobile suit warfare of AC 195 to 196."

"I don't read that," Une bristled.

"Ahh, of course, His Excellency's daughter, Mariemaia, what is she now, fourteen?"

"Yes," Une said.

The man stood there for a few moments, his finger tapping the well-worn cover.

"Lady Une, the reason I am here is two-fold, the first part you have promptly refused."

"And the second?"

"The second is a message," the man said, "His Excellency tasked my unit with the guarding of his final wish, and that wish was to make sure his actions were not in vain."

"So you really are them, the 13th SpecOps Brigade?"

"Yes," he said, "After 8 years of dishonor, we're going to regain our honor and fulfill the wishes of His Excellency."

"How," Une asked, but the man simply shook his head and headed towards the window.

"You'll find out soon enough, Colonel."

He then opened the window.

"Wait, who are you?"

The man looked back, "You've only met me once Colonel, but the name is Joachim Hettler."

He then proceeded to leap out the window and towards the ground below, as Une ran up to look at where he went.

He rolled to a stop on the ground, and quickly began sprinting, until the darkness covered his presence.

Une kept looking for him, and then heard in the distance, the faint whining sound of a mobile suit's thrusters spooling up.

Then she heard a roar as she knew it was heading off to somewhere unknown.

--

11:38am

January 6th, AC 204

Preventers Base

Brussels, Belgium

The Preventers main military base, the site of the launching of the counterattack against Mariemaia forces nine years ago, now had become the largest base in the entire Earthsphere, housing well over one hundred mobile suits at any time, since it was situated as both a training base and the base in the capital of the Earthsphere.

Currently, it was on stand-down, after all, who the hell would take a shot at Brussels when the Preventers were right next door.

There was however a quartet of Serpents that were on patrol around the base, providing training for the recruits that funneled in and out of the base.

On this day, Victor Tsaitov was attached to Sergeant Homura.

Tsaitov was a transfer from the security bureau, where he had shown a natural talent in adapting to circumstances and prevailing in them. So, it was no surprise that he was transferred to the mobile suit arm of the Preventers when he scored very high in the written aspect of the entrance exam.

But, as was the case with everything, transferring what you knew, to doing it, was something else entirely, and Tsaitov was still trying to learn that as his Serpent slowly moved along.

"C'mon, Tsaitov," Homura barked, "By this time I was flying circles around my fellow trainees."

"I'm sorry Sergeant," Tsaitov said, as he flew up into the air, but unable to control it completely screeched to the ground, almost cartwheeling the mobile suit, and ending his piloting career.

"GODDAMIT TSAITOV," Homura screamed, "What the fuck did I tell you, don't overcompensate on the damn attitude controls, if you keep doing that you're going to…"

A sudden explosion in the distance cut Homura off, the fireball arching upwards into the sky.

"The hell," Homura muttered over the open comm channel, then keyed in a different frequency, "Trotter, you see that?"

"Yah, I'm leaving my charge alone and moving in, it's fucking terrorists I bet," the pilot of the other Serpent, a Sergeant Trotter, the only female sergeant on the base, replied.

By now, Homura had already moved the Serpent to military speed by now.

"Terrorists? Too audacious, how could they slip in a bomb."

It was then that a second hangar erupted into flames and alarms started going off in Homura's cockpit, indicating that it had detected an infrared signature of a mobile suit.

Almost immediately a part of the screen moved to magnify into the target and Homura's eyes widened.

In that screen, was at first a flicker, as it seemed like a distortion had appeared out of nowhere, then what appeared to be electricity began running in straight lines as a form appeared out of nowhere, that was when its eyes lit an unearthly green. It's lines and form, could be best described as almost demonic, with the fiery backdrop caused Homura to almost imagine that this thing has just exited hell and was intent on destruction. In its right hand was what appeared to be a small dagger with a cord running up and under the armpit of the suit, while on its left forearm was a moderately sized shield.

Its eyes suddenly flashed again, and it lept into action, thrusters boosting it into the air, now heading in the duo's direction.

Immediately, Homura reacted, bringing his missiles online, and watched them as they erupted out of their racks and darted towards the oncoming target, Trotter also doing the same, as she brought her beam cannon to bear, firing it towards the target, while Homura began firing his double gatling.

In response, the demonic suit began barrel-rolling, the shield sprouting a long whip as it's shoulders lit up in the telltale sign of machine cannon's firing as tracer rounds began hitting some of the missiles, causing their warheads to prematurely detonate, but it was too few, as the missiles slammed into the target, followed quickly by the beam cannon shot, and gatling fire.

They then stopped, as the smoke from the conflagration roiled around, the still not moving it a bit.

Then suddenly, a whip shot out of the cloud, and proceeded to slice through Trotter's beam cannon.

"What," Trotter gasped, the beam cannon exploded just after she dropped it.

And that was when the suit moved, coming out of the cloud at almost blurring speed to a stop behind Trotter, its whip now fully extended and wrapped around the body of Trotter's MS, before it was yanked down upon the now activated beam sword behind it, spearing through the bottom part of the mobile suit, missing the cockpit by only a few feet. It then simply deactivated the beam sword, and the whip retracted back into the shield, as Trotter's Serpent fell lifeless to the ground.

It then swiftly boosted into the air and brought itself around to face Homura, who was in shock at how fast the mobile suit was…and how it easily outclassed his poor Serpent.

Which only meant only one thing.

"It's a……It's…a….."

The demon suit then boosted forward, beam sword held in a reversed grip slashing upwards, bisecting through the left "armpit" of the Serpent and through the head.

Power went out throughout the Serpent, backup power providing limited system functions, communications and a life beacon, in this case. Without the main power to power its leg actuators, it simply could not support its weight, and crumpled backwards to the ground.

Homura could only look on in abject helplessness as the demonic suit walked up to his suit, activated its beam sword, and pointed it down at the cockpit.

"The correct line you are looking for is, it's a Gundam," the pilot said, then it deactivated its beam sword, disappearing thin air.

--

6:32am

Same Day

Sanq Kingdom

"So far there have been no reports from the military as to what is going on," the news anchor began, "But Preventer and ESUN bases in Brussels, Bonn, Leipzig, Berlin, Wroclaw, and Warsaw, were all attacked in the last five hours, with attacks ranging between five to fifteen minutes from what accounts can be made."

"What about the cause?"

"That's the funny part," the reporter said, "Some people were saying that it was bombs, while at least one witness could have sworn seeing a mobile suit attacking the defense units."

As the newscast moved to an analyst of the details, a pair of Prussian blue eyes watched on dispassionately, a disassembled gun before him set on a towel, completely disassembled. To his right was a laptop, currently running a program that was searching through information on the military net for any information about these incidents.

But he was more focused on the gun before him now, disassembled for cleaning. After all, a gun that was not properly maintained had a tendency to not work when one needed it the most.

He was about to proceed to clean it, when a chime indicated that he had an incoming call.

He looked at the ID, eyes narrowing very slightly, before returning back to their normalcy, as he switched the vidscreen to take the message.

A pair of violet eyes, long chestnut brown hair, and a wide smile provided a stark contrast to him as the caller was revealed.

"Hey Heero old buddy, what's going on," Duo Maxwell, pilot of the Deathscythe and Deathscythe Hell, asked with an almost jovial tone.

"It's six-thirty in the morning, Duo," Heero Yuy replied, "This had better be good."

"I'm hurt," Duo said, and Heero almost cursed, it seemed his smile had almost grown to Cheshire cat like proportions, showing his amusement in annoying Heero, "and here I thought my best buddy would just enjoy a nice long distance call from his old war buddy."

"Cut to the chase Duo, or I'm going to hang up."

"Sheez, still can't take a joke," Duo said, in mock annoyance, his eyes catching the laptop in the corner of his screen, "I take it you're on the military net right now."'

"Maybe," Heero said.

"Well, at least you've been watching the news," Duo said in exasperation, getting a straight answer out of the Perfect Soldier was always a hassle…..more like pulling teeth actually, the guy always kept any card close to his chest.

"Yes," Heero, finally replied.

"Is it them?"

"Most likely," Heero said.

"You'd think the specter of Treize would just keep dead," Duo muttered, "Just what the hell do they think they can do with a handful of mobile suits."

"We changed the world," Heero reminded Duo.

"Yah, but they were with Gundams," Duo retorted, before his eyes widening, "You don't mean….."

"I'm hanging up now, Duo," Heero said, his mind done doing a mental countdown.

"Hey, waita-," Duo didn't get to finish, as he was cut off.

Heero then looked back to the gun before him, proceeded to clean it.

A short time later, he was heading up the stairs leading to the bedroom, where the heir to the Peacecraft name lay fast asleep.

Heero found himself looking upon her from the door, watching as she slept soundly, her golden blond hair framing her angelic face and the blanket like a curtain, while she had only a look of content and peace on her face.

Heero felt a moment of rage flowing through his body.

The fact that Relena had pretty much been forced to retire from the Foreign Ministry because of her stance on the rearmament of the ESUN to curb growing terrorism, and the developing police state that the ESUN had growingly favored since the Mariemaia Uprising of '96 still stuck with him. The fact that Relena had left something that she had enjoyed and had gone to the private life, had been the final nail in the coffin for his service to the Preventers and to anyone in the ESUN, he had promptly left his resignation and had become Relena's full-time, and only bodyguard. And it was a rather uneventful job, chaperoning Relena around, she rarely left the Sanq kingdom nowadays, something that Heero blamed on the ESUN as well.

But, as he looked upon her some more, he realized, that while he hated the fact that she no longer could do the things that she was good at, and she enjoyed in a masochistic kind of way, he knew that she enjoyed the fact that she really had no worries, no deadlines, no diplomatic minefields to navigate, she could be Relena Peacecraft, private citizen, and actually enjoy life.

He turned to leave, his mind made, he wanted to make sure Relena could enjoy life.

"Going on a mission, Heero?"

Heero stopped, and turned around, to see Relena propped up in her bed, now looking at Heero, her hair now framing her body, and Heero could discern that she had gone to sleep dressed only in undergarments, something she did when it was warm outside.

"Yes," Heero said, directly, and with a bit more emotion in his voice, a change from his usual dispassionate tone, but it was something only he really did for Relena.

Relena sighed, as she rolled over in the bed.

"Go ahead, Heero, I won't stop you."

Heero felt a pang of guilt, the fact that he knew that Relena cared for him deeply, but he, on the other hand, well, he didn't know what it was like to care deeply, even after all these years of deprogramming, the concept of love was as foreign to him as being unarmed at any time. But that didn't mean he tried to show Relena that he did care for her. It's just that he, Heero Yuy, the Perfect Soldier, just didn't know the concept of commitment in a relationship.

Heero decided then, that maybe he should at least take a chance.

He moved to the side of her bed, and sat down, Relena barely acknowledging his pressure on the bed.

"When I get back," Heero said, "We need to talk about some things."

"Like what," Relena said.

Heero hesitated, and found himself at a loss for words, and for a long time, he found that he couldn't say anything, as if his very vocal cords betrayed him and prevented him from saying what he wanted.

Instead, Heero decided that he needed to study this further, maybe then he could ask her.

"Nevermind," he said, getting up, and leaving the room.

Relena said nothing as he left, because she didn't know what to say.


	4. The Hunt

12:43pm

January 6th, AC 204

Winner Corporation Headquarters

Quatre Raberba Winner, head of the Winner family, pilot of the Gundam Sandrock, sat quietly as he read through yet another series of reports from within the corporation about the Mars Terraforming Project, and how it had hit yet another snare.

This time it seemed that customs for the ESUN would not allow a material that could be used in the production of a biological weapon, a special algae, to be shipped to Mars, they were afraid that Mars would use this as a weapon, mutating it to be able to be simply dropped on Earth and quite possibly destroy the Earth's ecosystem.

Quatre of course knew it was complete and utter bullshit, that accusation, that his company would build weapons to be used against the one entity that kept his company in business, it was utter insanity. But of course to the politicians, that actually required sanity to understand.

But underneath this, Winner could sense another hand in this move, the hand of Logos Enterprises, WinCor's chief competition in the Mars Terraforming project, a company that Quatre knew treated it's employees less than he did, lied, cheated, stole, and did anything to any other companies to get contracts and to get what companies had that they wanted.

Quatre absolutely abhorred everything Logos did, he treated his employees better than almost every company in the Earthsphere, so much so that people WANTED to work for him, all he asked for in return, was loyalty to his company, and to never lie, cheat, or steal from his competitors or do anything to alienate his customers. It was a system that worked well, and it made his company stand out in a field of sharks.

But that didn't always translate into success unfortunately; as Quatre looked back at the notice he was given. It seemed some politicians doubted his company's loyalty to the ESUN, and as such were barring him from introducing this algae that could quite possibly turn the tide on Mars in favor of the Terraforming crews.

His fist balled up as he worked to contain his anger at this injustice, but instead, turned his anger on the paper, immediately balling it up with a very loud series of crumpling noises and threw it across the room.

Before he could continue on, a chime sounded from his desk, alerting him that his secretary wanted his attention.

"What is it Iria," Quatre asked.

"Heero's on the line," Iria said, "He said it was urgent."

Immediately, Quatre's anger turned to concern, because it was rare that Heero ever called him, and when it did, it usually was for something serious, and the Perfect Soldier was ever rarely in trouble.

"Alright, Iria, can you place it on the secure line," Quatre asked.

"Right away," she said.

Quatre then picked up the phone.

"Secure line, Quatre," Iria said, "Here you go."

"Heero," Quatre said in his usual tone that he always gave when one of his best friends and compatriots was ever contacting him, "How've you been?"

"I've been fine Quatre," Heero replied.

"And Relena," Quatre quickly added.

"She's fine as well."

"That's great," Quatre said, "So, what's the occasion?"

"I have a mission," Heero said.

Immediately, Quatre's mind switched from the pleasantries to combat, the fact was, Heero once in awhile contacted him for logistical support for missions that Heero sometimes went on, Quatre kept track of those missions…or rather, the headlines they made, an assassination of a known crime figure here, an explosion in a factory that was found to be producing mobile suits there. Quatre also knew, Heero would never fully adjust to peace, he needed something to justify his training and existence, and being a harbinger of peace, as he was for the Xmas eve battle, and the Mariemaia conflict, was one way of coping with the lack of war.

"What do you need," Quatre asked.

"I just need a standard infiltration kit," Heero said, "And a decryption kit for mobile suit security packages.

Quatre immediately put two and two together and came back with the attacks in Europe from this morning.

"Alright Heero, I'll do it, but can you tell me more about this?"

"From what I can tell, it has to deal with the Ghost Brigade."

That was one of the names that had been given to 13th, Quatre realized.

"What do you know of it," Heero asked.

"Other than the usual stories," Quatre said, "I really don't know, maybe Dorothy knows something. I'll ask her."

"I don't have the time," Heero said, "Can you have the equipment in Kiev by tonight?"

"Yes, I have a subsidiary there that will have it by tonight, you think they are going to hit again?"

"I wouldn't doubt it, they've shown their hand, now they need to run with it," Heero replied.

"We'll, I'll forward whatever Dorothy has on them to you, be careful Heero."

"Roger that," Heero then hung up.

He then keyed his line to the secretary, "Iria, can you have Dorothy come and see me?"

"She's actually awaiting you, Quatre," Iria said, "I'll let her in."

As soon as the words left her mouth, the doors opened, and the Vice President of the Winner Corporation, Dorothy Catalonia walked in.

"Good morning Quatre," Dorothy said.

"I take it this isn't a business call."

"You know me too well," she said in her smooth tone that always gave Quatre the creeps, well, it was expected, after all, this was the woman that stabbed him with a fucking epee.

She then took a seat in front of his desk, crossing her legs.

"I guess we're both on the same page," Quatre said, "but what do you know about the Ghost Brigade?"

"The 13th Special Operations Brigade," Dorothy asked, "The Traitor Brigade? Or are you talking about the Jokers."

"You know they are the same," Quatre said, slightly testily, he really didn't want to have Dorothy start with her games or her stories; he grew tired of them quickly, considering she loved spinning her stories.

"You're no fun," Dorothy teased, but then her forked eyebrows furrowed slightly, in the sign she was recalling that information.

"From what I remember, Mister Treize had them formed right after he took the World Nation from Miss Relena, they were supposed to be a special unit, formed from some of the best of what was left of the Treize Faction."

"What else?"

"Well, that's the funny part, they never had more than three pilots," Dorothy said, "And I know two of the pilots actually, they are actually working here."

"What about the third one?"

"That one was the weird one," Dorothy said, "It was a young Count, though he had no family within Romefeller, I think Treize gave him that honorary rank right after you and the other Gundam pilots started attacking OZ. He was introduced to me as Colin von Richter."

"You met him?"

"Yes, it was at a ball in Brussels, mysterious, he rarely said anything, and when he did talk, people did listen to him a lot. Brown hair, dark blue eyes, obviously military, though, he wasn't OZ, more like mercenary. He was touted in some circles as the counter to the Gundam pilots, but he never got the chance to actually try."

"Why's that?"

"Political intrigue, before Siberia, he pretty much became an outsider when he talked about how you pilots had a point of grievances. But…I wouldn't be too sure."

"Can you explain?"

"Well, if anything, he didn't seem stupid to me, and it almost seemed deliberate his sudden vocal stance on anything, he had nothing but antipathy towards nobles that Romefeller consisted of, except Mister Treize, and to suddenly side with you pilots, well, it just seemed like it was a self-imposed exile."

"Where'd he go from there?"

"He went black, he scouted out Earth Alliance positions and provided intelligence on them, he also did a few strikes on Earth Alliance units he earned a nickname for that."

"What was that?"

"The Razor, he was so surgical in his attacks that it was almost like watching a machine."

"And after that, he went with the Treize Faction?"

"Yes, he was in space most of the time, usually operating alone, he went over well with the locals in the Colonies after Romefeller showed its true hand, attacking weak points in the Mobile Doll networks with his Taurus."

"But he never went to Barge?"

"No, he sent his reports to Barge, but other than that, when he needed spare parts he got it from local sources, and when he needed repairs he also went to local sources."

"So it would be safe to say that he's friendly with the colonies?"

"Yes," Dorothy said, then she paused, "there was also a rumor floating around after the war. If Mister Treize had been able to deploy in the Tallgeese III, I believe this Colin would have deployed in Mister Treize's Tallgeese."

"So why'd he get assigned the 13th?"

"That's one thing that's always troubled me, he usually operated alone, and to be assigned unit, it just seemed odd."

She shook her head, "All I do know, if Colin is behind this, then he's probably doing something of Mister Treize's bidding, it was the one person he identified with most."

"Fanatic?"

"No, more like a warrior's respect, if anything, Colin was OZ's version of the Perfect Soldier other than Mister Milliardo."

"Thank you Dorothy," Quatre said, "I'll make sure to pass that on to Heero?"

"What's Heero have to do with this?"

"He's going to stop them."

"Oh," Dorothy said, "Well, that isn't beautiful."

"Please Dorothy, the Earth doesn't need a new war," Quatre said exasperatedly, "It's in enough trouble as is."

"I wouldn't ever dream it," Dorothy said, with a smile, "By the way, we do have dinner tonight."

"If you say we're going to that French hellhole again, I'll make sure to forget it."

"Oh, I wouldn't try and torture you so again," Dorothy said, "Besides, I dislike the French food as much as you."

"Wait….you…," Quatre pointed an accusing finger at Dorothy, who was wearing her customary smile, the kind of smile you'd swear that only a sadist would wear.

--

3:46pm

Same Day

Khushrenada Estate

"Hello Heero," Une said.

"Can I come in?"

"Sure," Une said, allowing him inside in.

"How's Mariemaia," Heero asked.

"She's well, she's right now at swimming practice," Une said.

"Hn."

Une led Heero into one of the entertainment rooms and sat down, motioning Heero down.

"I got your message, what was it you wanted," Une asked matter-of-factly.

"I just want some information," Heero said, leaning forward, "What do you know of the 13th Special Operations Brigade?"

Underneath, Une was slightly surprised, but then again, this was the so-called Perfect Soldier before her, it was obvious he had put together some of the pieces of the puzzle.

"It's funny you would ask that," Une said, leaning back, thinking, "I take it you've figured out who attacked the Preventer and ESUN bases, correct?"

"Yes," Heero replied.

"Well, I have on two occasions visited with them," Une said, "after I was retired from the Preventers."

"What did they want?"

"That's the funny part, they wanted me."

"What for?"

"I don't know," Une replied, "maybe they wanted some legitimacy, after all, I was Treize's aide for the war, a lot of what I did reflected His Excellency's ideals, and I am the guardian of his progeny, maybe it's that."

"You said you met them twice, when were they?"

"One was right after I was retired; the second one was last night."

"And you didn't report any of this?"

"Why would I," Une asked before, "Heero, the ESUN that we know is dead, if I reported it, they'd most likely assume I was somehow affiliated with them and I'd be liquidated, simple as that, if there is one thing I am not, it's stupid."

"Hn. So, what happened last night?"

"Well, their commander showed up in the library, don't know how he slipped in, all I know is he was just there."

"Colin von Richter."

"No, Joachim Hettler."

Heero paused, absorbing the information, "Records say that the commander is Colin von Richter."

"He introduced himself as Joachim Hettler," Une said.

Heero mentally logged that, "What else you know of him?"

"Well, he had brown hair in a military cut and blue eyes. He had an aristocratic air to him, but I've never seen him in any of the Romefeller circles, and I'd remember any Romefeller member. He was also wearing a pilot suit and carried a helmet."

"So he's the pilot," Heero mused, "What did he talk about?"

"He mentioned his unit's dishonor and how it's fulfilling Master Treize's wishes now."

"Nothing in depth?"

"No, but what it is, I have a feeling that it might deal with Treize's realism."

"What do you mean," Heero asked, if there was one thing Treize was, he wasn't that big of a realist, he was more of an idealist, in fact, everything he did was an ideal for him.

"Well, you know Treize for being a major idealist," Une said, with a smile, "But Treize was also a student of history, and understood that while his ideals are good, realism dictated that his ideals be possible. Reshaping the Earthsphere to be a unified front was an ideal, along with his constant eschewing of chivalry and human conflict. But Treize was also cognizant of the fact that his ideal of a single entity could become corrupt and destructive, that once humanity is removed from the equation then government becomes nothing more than something like a Mobile Doll without a control system, just a machine that flails at everything, I think that's what this Joachim is talking about."

"Do you think he's a fanatic?"

"I've known a few Master Treize fanatics," Une laughed, referring to herself in a jab as well, "but no, if anything, this man while he sees Master Treize as a guide, he does not worship him, he probably only wants to emulate Treize's ideals."

"But isn't that fanaticism," Heero asked pointedly.

"No," Une said, "I don't believe so in this man's case, he's something else entirely, if anything, if he has gotten orders from Master Treize before he died, then most likely, he's following them to the letter, because he believes in Master Treize's ideology, and that makes him much worse than a fanatic."

"What does it make him?"

"The problem with fanatics is they are not creative," Une said, "Most fanatics are inflexible, that one goal dictates their actions, and limits their creativity. An idealist like this man, well, he has all the flexibility to adapt, because he has only one general goal, as long as he follows what he interprets as 

what His Excellency would do, then he will be more destructive than any fanatic, because he will be able to get a following."

Heero got up, "Thank you, Lady Une."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to kill him," Heero said, "It's the only solution."

--

7:32am

80 Miles south of Kiev

Heero set his eyes upon the place he figured would be the likely safehouse in which to hide a mobile suit and to house the pilot of it.

It was a dacha actually, built right on a lakefront property, and was very remote, Heero had to hike the last four miles to get there.

He quietly watched the property one more time as he pulled back the slide on his pistol, chambering a round before placing it in a holster, and then looked back at the rapidly rising sun.

He knew the most likely route the pilot would have made was to hit at night and quickly get to his safehouse before the sun rose, so when he heard the roar of thrusters, and the ground disappear for just a moment before returning back to its normal shape.

Immediately, Heero recognized that not only was this a safehouse, but it was also an underground hangar. He knew that he needed to stop this now, or the Earthsphere would erupt into the flames of war again if this unit pressed itself further.

He immediately began moving towards the house now, eyes wary for cameras.

But he found none, which struck him as strange, if this was supposed to be a safehouse and base, then it should at least have some security.

He then came up to the door, and examined it for any details that could stand out, and was surprised at there were none, it simply appeared to be a very typical household lock that required a key.

How amateurish, Heero thought as he brought out his lock pick and immediately began picking the lock, then opening the door once he was successful.

No alarms went off, nothing, all Heero could hear, was music, like it was just beginning, a vocal arrangement that mixed both female and male voices into a peaceful, soothing type of sound.

Heero went on guard, because if he couldn't hear anything but this music, then if there was an alarm, then his target would be able to get the jump on him, because he would be aware of an intruder.

Heero pulled out his sidearm and slowly crept into the house, eyes darting left and right as he moved for the entertainment room.

As soon as he entered the entertainment room, he saw a solitary figure with his back to him laying sprawled out on a large chair, his feet on a stand as his hands moved in a composer-like fashion to the the music as it began reaching a crescendo, by now mixing instrumental with even more powerful vocals.

Heero could discern that he was wearing a pilot suit, his helmet sitting on the floor beside him, as he pantomimed the rhythm of the music, as if he were the very composer.

Quietly, and as fast as possible, he moved up behind the pilot, his brown hair now visible to Heero, the sunlight showing into the room, and pointing the gun to the back of the man's head.

"Heero Yuy," the man said, but Heero realized that the voice was not coming from in front of him….BUT BEHIND HIM!!

Then he felt the cold feel of gunmetal to the back of his head, and his eyes widened.

"I've been expecting you," Joachim Hettler said.


	5. Machinations

Heero stood there, gun to the back of his head, eyes looking to the right, trying to catch a glimpse of the man who now held the life in his hands.

Obviously, this man wasn't trying to kill him yet, because if he had intentions to kill him, then he would not be breathing now what would he.

"Drop the gun, please," Joachim said, as if he were asking for the salt to be passed.

Heero did as he was asked to, dropping the gun.

"Shut down holographic presentation, silence music."

The presentation of the man in the chair disappeared, along with the music being cut off.

"Now, please remove the gun behind your back, and the one in holster on your left ankle, and don't try and roll to your left when you reach for the holster, you will end up with a gunshot to the shoulder that will have to be treated, and I'd rather talk than have to treat you."

Heero's eyes widened so slightly, it was almost imperceptible, the fact he was just thinking about doing that with the left holster gun and the man had predicted what he was thinking.

He then removed the gun that was on his back, before slowly reaching for the gun in the holster on his left ankle and dropping it to the floor.

"Good," Joachim said, before removing the pistol from the back of Heero's head and holstering it, confident in himself.

"You can turn around now."

Heero chose to slowly turn himself around, and found himself staring at Joachim, still wearing his pilot suit and wearing a helmet that caused Heero to almost do a double take.

"I take it you recognize what I'm wearing," Joachim said before motioning Heero to a seat across from the chair to the right of the chair that had just a moment before been holding a holographic representation of it.

"Zero," Heero said simply.

"Correct. You do realize the futility of fighting a man who is connected to the helmet and is armed, but that's beside the point, as you're already figured out, if I had wanted you dead, I would have killed you, but I simply want to talk to you. After this talk, you can decide what you want to do with my life, and with my mobile suit.

Heero was skeptical, as he took the seat, and Joachim did the same, he could fight him, but Heero didn't really know the effects of someone connected to the Zero System in a fistfight, and really, Heero did really not want to test his luck. Not to mention, Heero could easily see that while Joachim had disarmed himself of a gun, he still carried a wicked looking combat knife in a shoulder sheath.

Joachim then settled into the chair, before proceeding to take off the helmet, and setting it down, running his hands through his hair, before slicking it back. He then reached into the chest pocket and took out a small case, before opening it up and taking out a pair of glasses and placed it on the bridge of his nose.

"Now, where do we begin? I take it you know the entire story of the unit, so I'll just avoid that entire line of thought, I think the main question you're asking is simply, why now?"

He then continued not allowing Heero to answer.

"You've seen it haven't you? The fact that the Earthsphere government is becoming a despotic police state that stifles any opinion that runs contrary to the party line?"

Heero said nothing, causing Joachim to snort.

"Of course you do," Joachim said continuing on, "If you didn't you wouldn't be the perfect soldier, now would you."

"Now, you've already heard the story of my unit; how we backstabbed Treize's trust and ran away from the battle against Libra, but let me tell you the other side of this story."

"Thushrenada was sure that Peacecraft wouldn't take his insanity to the point of causing widespread death and destruction, but he also knew that both he and Peacecraft must die in the end in order for Earth to be able to move on. He also knew, that the basis of the Earth Alliance was the fact that there was a united government, and eventually, it would return to its despotic rule, he actually figured, it would be within ten to fifteen years before we would start seeing the signs."

"Unfortunately, he didn't know that Barton would try and use his daughter as a pawn to rule the world himself, the unfortunate consequence of this, was the dramatic increase in spending for the Preventers."

Joachim then glanced at Heero, and sensed the fact that Heero really didn't care for what he was pointing out, and sighed.

"I'll put it simply, my unit and I are simply the will of the people who cannot fight back against a corrupt and despotic government that only cares for itself."

"Sounds self-righteous," Heero interjected, and what if the people don't want your interference?"

Joachim merely smiled, "What makes you think they don't?"

He then got to his feet, picking up the helmet as he did, and then threw it in Heero's lap.

Heero looked at the helmet as Joachim spoke again.

"If you truly think that the people don't want the interferences of my unit, then take my mobile suit, disarm us, the password is omega."

Heero stood there for a few moments, trying to decide if this was a trap, if Joachim was only playing him, and would turn around and set him up some other way.

But the soldier inside him told him that that was not true, if anything, Joachim was more like Treize in the fact that he was testing his resolve.

But, Heero also knew that what Joachim had was also a menace, and it would lead to death and mayhem, so his job was foremost. But at the same time, Heero also realized that killing Joachim would gain him nothing, he was a schemer yes, but without power he was just like any other schemer. And he was also quite certain Joachim would and could defend himself as well.

"You're free to go," Joachim said, "There's a spare pilot suit in the hangar, you can fit into that if you want, the Zero system is thought activated, so if you don't want it, it won't be activated."

Heero harumphed before turning around and heading out the door that leads to the underground hangar.

Joachim watched for a few more moments before reaching into the side of the chair and took out a small book and flipped open it open.

He then readjusted the glasses so that they were set in the correct position on his eyes, revealing that they were in fact reading glasses.

"You can come out now," Joachim murmured.

A door to the left of him then opened up and a raven-haired man walked in, in his left hand was a sheathed katana, the hilt of the sword extended slightly from the end, showing just a small part of the blade.

"Did you tip off the Preventers," Joachim murmured, flipping the page.

"Yes," the man said, "your scouts reported that they are sending two squadrons of Serpents."

"Good," Joachim replied, his eyes never wavering from the book.

"Do you really think Heero is going to fall for it all," the man asked.

"Everything is going according to what Zero showed me," Joachim said, "in fact, I even talked it into being a little more….flourishing with what it will show him."

"In other words you're gonna manipulate him," the man's voice raised in volume, "There is no justice in that."

"I am merely the director in this grand play, Wufei, no more, no less," Joachim murmured quietly, flipping one more page.

A/N: Finally, I have finished a new chapter, caught in between my Changing Tides fic, school, Xbox 360 and work, that and my HD failing just a couple days ago and getting fixed, I am finally taking advantage of this break to finish the chapter. Now, I've deviated from my original plan because quite simply, I could not get a spark, so I came upon the idea of Wufei once again being opposite the Gundam pilots. In EW, Wufei was probably in his best role, while Heero was the heart of the Gundam Team, Wufei was it's soul. I'll go into more depth of why Wufei is where he is, and what's in store for Heero.


End file.
